This application relates to a tool to aid in the repair of pipes. For example, to repair buried pipe, workers generally first excavate the surrounding soil and debris from the location of the damaged pipe. Following the excavation, the damaged portion of the pipe is cut away or otherwise removed, leaving two open ends of the original piping.
A pipe repair section, sized to fit the space between the open ends of the original piping, is secured to the original piping with a pair of couplers, one for each joint between the repair section and the original pipe. To accomplish the repair, a single coupler is slid onto each open end of the original piping. The repair section is placed between the exposed ends of the original pipe. Workmen then slide each coupler onto an end of the repair section so that each coupler spans both the replacement pipe section and the original pipe to create two airtight connections between the original pipe and the pipe repair section.
The conventional method to move the coupler onto the replacement pipe is to lubricate the ends of the exposed original pipe and the repair section and apply force to a narrow flange on the coupler, pushing the coupler flange onto the repair section. Pipe layers often use elongate pry bars with one end against a coupler to push the coupler onto the original pipe and then push it in the opposite direction onto the repair section. This can be difficult and often results in the pry bar slipping off the flange. One technique to prevent the pry bar from slipping off the flange of the coupler is to angle the pry bar with the point in the dirt directly underneath the pipe and the upper end of the pry angled outwardly away from the pipe. In this way the worker can apply both an inward force and forward force on the coupler. Applying an inward and forward force to only one side of the coupler can cock the coupler on a pipe, increasing the difficulty of sliding the coupler along the pipe. Thus, it sometimes takes two people, each with a pry bar, on opposite sides of the coupler to force the coupler along a pipe or across an intersection of two pipes.
Some of the difficulties associated with the repair process described above relate to the pry bar slipping off the coupler flange, the need to apply inward and forward force on the coupler with the pry bar, and the need for two workers, each with a pry bar to slide the coupler evenly from the original pipe onto the repair section. The difficulties can result in more workers spending more time in the trench and the increased risk of injury.